


Antithesis

by runfive



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, Season 6 Spoilers, it's loving amelia hour!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runfive/pseuds/runfive
Summary: By the time she turns back around, Five's expression is collected again, but Amelia knows it still stings, because Brent was like Moonchild in a lot of ways. Thinking that he owned her, thinking that he loved her. They both liked control. If anyone could understand it would be Five.---In which Five and Amelia have a semi conversation about their past lovers.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Antithesis

**Author's Note:**

> ***spoilers through the season 6 finale***
> 
> me: yeah amelia is the worst  
> Brent Valmont: *exists*  
> me: actually amelia is my wife and if you come within ten feet of her i’ll strangle u with my bare hands 
> 
> here’s a disclaimer: I usually like think about my fics before I write them and put some effort into editing and improving on the drafts but because it’s ~quarantine writing time!!!~ I wrote this tonight after I’d had way too much caffeine so it’s not like a well developed fic I just have a lot of feelings to express about my wife Amelia
> 
> Also I think I kept Five gender neutral in this one but if I accidentally slipped a specific pronoun in there let me know bc like most of my writing I did not have the attention span to proofread it

Amelia slides down in her armchair and kicks her legs up on her desk. She’s attempting to decide whether to treat herself to a much deserved bath, or just say to hell with it and sleep for the next twelve hours, when she hears a knock on her Fort Canton office door.

“Um, excuse me. General Spens?”

“Yes, what is it?” She sighs, spinning around in her chair to face the door. If it’s anything other than the news that her latest shipment of bath salts has arrived from London, she will absolutely _not_ be answering. 

“Runner Five is here to see you.”

Right. Of course, Team Abel can never leave her well enough alone even after she’s just helped them save the world. Again. 

“Yes, yes. Five can come in.” 

Five steps past the guard as he closes the door and raises an eyebrow at her, “You’re a general now?” 

“Well I couldn’t let Janine have all the fun, could I?” She replies, kicking a chair towards Five. “Anyway it depends on the day, I was Queen Spens last week.” 

“Of course you were.” Five grabs the chair before it can fall over and sits down. 

“Don’t wrinkle your nose at me like that _Runner_ Five, or is it only okay when you put a title in your name?”

“Difference is I’m actually a runner.” 

“Why are you even here?” 

Five suddenly looks hesitant, and Amelia narrows her eyes in suspicion. She really should have seen this coming. Five’s always been strange but had never gone out of the way to visit Amelia for _fun_ before. “Here to check on me, Five? I suppose Janine thinks I want Sigrid’s job now.” Amelia begins sorting through the papers on her desk, pointedly trying to ignore Five. “You can run back like a good little lapdog and tell her that I find running the country far too messy of a job. That’s more her style.” 

“Janine doesn’t know I’m here, I ran over by myself.” 

“Oh.” 

Amelia waits. Five’s always been a tricky one to read and it’s infuriating to no end. After a moment, Five leans forward toward Amelia, and begins helping her sort through the papers in a deliberately blasé way that makes Amelia want to roll her eyes. “A lot’s happened in the past couple of days,” Five finally says. 

“Yes, thank you for running all the way over here to tell me that, Runner Five.” 

Five stops shuffling the papers and looks up at Amelia, with an unreadable expression, “It’s just with everything that’s happened with Valmont and ANNIE...Amelia, if you wanted to talk-”

Amelia freezes, her hands hovering over the desk. Oh. Of course. Top of the list of the reasons why Runner Five is the absolute _worst._ “What is it with you Abel people and _talking_ and _feelings_ ,” Amelia quickly deflects, turning back to her desk and shoving the papers into her drawer without really looking at them. 

Five shrugs and kicks a foot up onto the now empty desktop, “It’s a lot to deal with, Amelia, and I don’t think you have that many people to talk to.”

She has half a mind to just call the guard to come kick Five out. After all who gave Five the right to come into her peaceful office and start administering the world’s worst therapy session. Amelia had been dealing with it just fine without Five coming in to interrogate her. Of course she didn’t want Brent around, who would? With his intolerable personality, with his obsessive need to collect things.

To collect her. 

Right, well she hadn’t made a point of thinking about it anyway. 

About how she’d thought if she’d ever done anything to deserve one thing, just one good thing in her life, then the zombie apocalypse would have killed Brent before they’d ever crossed paths again. But of course Amelia has never done anything to deserve such a mercy.

Right. Not thinking about it. She shifts her attention back to Five, who’s just sitting there, looking at her with that same insufferable expression. “You’d be wrong on both counts,” Amelia says, pointedly dropping a stack of this week's supply logs onto Runner Five’s foot. “You know Five, your off putting personality is one of the many reasons I don’t like you.” Amelia reaches for the stack of last week’s supply logs with the intent to also drop it onto Five, who clearly has no concept of personal space, when something occurs to her. For all her talk, Amelia has to admit that she never did genuinely dislike Five. Well, she did a bit, but only on principle of Five being president of the Janine De Luca fanclub. But in actuality, just Five alone? Well Five kept quiet enough for her liking. Five never pretended to be a better person than her. They actually made a pretty good team if Amelia did say so herself. Of course Five was much too self sacrificing for her taste, but it’s not like Amelia was going to hate someone for being _stupid_ . But she had up until this point been working under the assumption that Five didn’t like _her._ Runner Five had never been her friend, after all. “Why are you even being nice to me, it’s not like you even like me.” It almost comes out like a question. 

Five just laughs. “No Amelia I don’t like you, I’ve never liked you.”

Oh. “Honestly, what have I ever done to you? I mean yes, yes I have betrayed little team Abel several times but it’s not like I’ve ever done anything to you _personally_.”

“Three weeks after we met you held me hostage in a plane. Which you then crashed.”

“Ah.” Admittedly she’d forgotten about that. It’s not like Five was the only person she’d ever kidnapped honestly. “And yet, here you are, trying to get me to _talk_ to you about my feelings like you even care about them, which if I haven’t made myself perfectly clear I do not possess such feelings and if I did I can assure you that talking about them would not help me, who do I look like, Sam Yao?” 

“You’re deflecting.”

“So are you,” Amelia replies testily, “so why don’t you wipe that annoyingly self-righteous look off your face and tell me why you’re trying to help me.” 

They stare at each other in a quiet stalemate, and Amelia can’t help but feel a bit smug and a tiny bit curious at the sudden apprehension on Five’s face. Finally Five’s shoulders drop in what seems to be surrender, “You and Simon rescued me from Moonchild. I haven’t forgotten.”

Amelia carefully tries not to look surprised. After all she remembers _that_ incident very well. Well she remembers Simon insisting they go to Five, telling Amelia he’d leave her if she didn’t help him. And an immortal wasn’t an asset she was going to lose over a little road trip to get Five’s head back. “Well...I didn’t do it for you.”

“I know,” Five replies quietly, “All the same.” 

The conversation is getting too sentimental, too close to feelings for Amelia's liking. It’s dangerous territory. Time to end it. Amelia stands up from her desk and pretends to be preoccupied with her surveillance monitors. “Well I suppose if anyone can understand messed up relationships it’s you Five. Moonchild’s been dead for three years and look, you’re still her favorite pet.” 

Amelia watches out of the corner of her eyes as her words hit Five. As Five’s shoulders tense, as Five’s jaw clenches. It’s not lashing out like a wounded animal, It’s a precise blow meant to hurt. Amelia is quite good at those and unlike _some_ other people Amelia has never pretended to be nice. By the time she turns back around, Five's expression is collected again, but Amelia knows it still stings, because Brent _was_ like Moonchild in a lot of ways. Thinking that he owned her, thinking that he loved her. They both liked control. If anyone could understand it would be Five. That’s how Amelia knows exactly where to hit.

She hopes Five will hit back, but she knows Five won’t, that Five’s always been too nauseatingly good. Not that Amelia cares, not that Amelia would ever want to be like Five. After all, what did being good ever bring Five? That was something she at least learned from Brent. There’s only one way you protect yourself, and it’s never been by being good. And that was the difference between her and Five wasn’t it? Amelia got burnt and chose to protect herself. Five got burnt and _still_ chooses time and time again to get hurt. It’s not something Amelia can or would ever want to comprehend. 

So of course, Five doesn’t hit back. Of course Five only weaponizes Amelia’s own insult. “And Moonchild still scares me too. Like Valmont scares you. It’s okay, you know.”

“Get out.” Amelia suddenly snaps, quickly turning her back to Five to hide her face. It’s not a good look, losing her composure. Five will run off and tell Janine and oh god how insufferable would that be. She feels like crying all of a sudden and honestly she could kill Five for it. She just might. She quickly runs in her head the value of Five as an asset versus the immense satisfaction she would receive by turning around and killing her on the spot. 

Five immediately stands up, carefully tucking the chair back under the desk. “I will, but Amelia…” There’s something so earnest in Five’s voice that, almost without thinking, Amelia finds herself turning back around. It’s a tone she’s never heard from Five before, at least not directed at her, “Amelia if you want me to...take Valmont out of the picture, I’ll do it.” 

Amelia can’t speak for a second and, well, that’s a first. Of all the things she was expecting Five to say that was perhaps the last one. 

Five just gives her a half smile, “It’s not like another person in my total kill count means anything, a thousand, a thousand and one, what’s the difference? Or I could at least hurt him enough to take him out of commission.” Five grimaces as if the second option is immensely less desirable. 

Amelia almost wants to laugh in disbelief. Runner Five, standing in front of her, offering to murder her ex-husband. How did she ever get here? “I am perfectly capable of fighting my own battles, Runner Five."

Five just shrugs, “So am I but if Moonchild were here in front of me, I don’t think I’d be able to kill her.” 

Amelia is touched and disgusted at the same time. “Get out of my office, Five.” 

“Okay.” Five pulls open the door and gives her a little mock salute, “Thank you for your time, General.” 

“I do not care if you’re a war hero Five, I am not above telling the guards to drag you out.”

“By the way Janine did want me to tell you that you are ‘in no uncertain terms to move even a finger towards the position of Prime Minister’ or she’ll ask King Jamie to bring the entire force of the British Army down on you. “ 

“A gang of roller derby girls. How will I ever cope with the terror of such a threat.” 

Five gives her a cheeky grin before stepping out the door, and Amelia is suddenly seized with a bizarre urge. “Five?” Amelia calls quickly before the door shuts all the way.

Five pops it back open a crack, “Amelia?”

“I will...let you know if I want you to shoot Valmont.”

Five just gives her a small smile and shuts the door. 

Amelia stands there for a moment, breathing heavily. She’s feeling...something. Something unfamiliar. 

She rolls her eyes and shakes it off. Ever joining team Abel was clearly a mistake. 

**Author's Note:**

> can someone like....hug amelia...like just once at least?? 
> 
> I just really like the idea of Five and Amelia being like we're not friends but I have your back and I'd kill a man for you


End file.
